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Thursday, October 3, 2024

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The X-44 Manta: The Unseen Influence on America’s Next Stealth Fighter

In the annals of military flying, few projects have fired as much curiosity and speculation as the X-44 Manta. Visualized by Lockheed Martin as a tailless, delta-wing brother to the F-22 Raptor, the X-44 Manta was the dream of extending even further the frontiers of low observability and agility in air combat. Axed in 2000 before a prototype was built, its legacy survives in shaping the future of air warfare.

The X-44 Manta was conceptualized during the Cold War, a period when military technology was developing at the quickest rate. With twin turbofan engines thrust vectoring and without vertical stabilizers, the jet would have a considerably reduced already small radar signature. This was one way of giving it an even higher degree of stealth, making the aircraft even more difficult to find by enemy radar. Despite the promising features, the program was discarded, relegating the X-44 to the annals of history. Its design elements, however, are trickling into today’s U.S. Air Force Next Generation Air Dominance, or NGAD, program sixth-generation fighter effort aimed at replacing the F-22 and leading the future air combat.

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works designed the prototype YF-22 in the late 1980s for. This prototype later developed into the F-22 Raptor, the world’s first fifth-generation fighter. While the F-22 was under development, Lockheed Martin envisioned the X-44 Manta-an extensively modified variant that was aimed at further reducing the radar signature and increasing the aircraft’s agility. The Manta’s tailless configuration and thrust vectoring pledged an airframe of exceptional agility, though quite burdensome for pilots.

The X-44 Manta was designed to carry quite an impressive weapons array: a 20mm internal cannon, two AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles, and up to six AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles. This impressive arsenal would have made it a formidable opponent in the air. Despite this, the Manta program was canceled before a prototype could be built.

Fast forward to today U.S. Meanwhile, the Air Force has been working on its NGAD fighter program, which is set to emerge as a family of systems with a manned sixth-generation fighter aircraft. These will include “loyal wingmen drones,” unmanned UAVs that can be outfitted with weapons and tactical systems. The NGAD is expected to have a wedge-shaped, tailless design similar to the concept study X-44 Manta, with advanced technologies integrated into the design for a host of new capabilities to ensure supremacy in the air during future conflicts.

Speculation was again heightened when Lockheed Martin posted a cryptic render on Instagram. Many speculated whether this was a look into its competing design for the NGAD contract. Indeed, the render shared striking similarities with previously released designs by Lockheed Martin, such as the X-44 Manta. While the single firms left with their hands still in the NGAD contract are unclear, many consider Lockheed Martin to be one of the top contenders due to extensive experience with stealth-type aircraft.

Without question, the X-44 Manta has left an indelible mark on modern stealth aircraft in the form of the NGAD program. Even though it never got beyond the design stage, certainly the innovative features of the Manta cut a path to the next generation of fighters. In this race to produce the world’s first sixth-generation airframe, the legacy of the X-44 Manta stands witness to that inimitable pursuit of air superiority.

As Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, with the F-35 fighter jet program at Naval Air Systems Command, highlighted more than twenty years ago, the X-44 Manta was designed, but the concepts behind it are still relevant today. The NGAD program for both the Air Force and the Navy shows the same innovative spirit that the X-44 did, proving that sometimes the best direction forward is a rearview look.

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